Bryan Bowers walked into The Earl in 1970 and formed a friendship with Mr. Pionke that lasted until his death.

Bowers was living out of a 1967 panel truck and playing gigs, and Mr. Pionke told him to find a place to settle where nobody could tell him to stop playing music. A year later, Bowers said, Mr. Pionke lent him money for a home — a debt he repaid by playing autoharp at the club.

"The 'bigger than life' term doesn't do him justice,"said Bowers, who went on to introduce the autoharp to generations of musicians. "He was the epicenter of the whole musical scene here.

"He was encouraging to so many people throughout his life, not just me."

Mr. Pionke had been sleeping a lot the last few days, his son Joe said, and died peacefully surrounded by family.

Mr. Pionke had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about this time last year. Friends organized a party for his 80th birthday at FitzGerald's in Berwyn. More than two dozen musicians played a six-plus-hour set.

"When we arrived, there was a line around the block, just like on New Year's Eve for a Steve Goodman show," Joe Pionke said.

He said his father found joy in the moment: He recognized that few other 80-year-old men have the good fortune to be surrounded by hundreds of friends and admirers.

"As my dad said, that type of a party is a once-in-a-lifetime type thing, and he looked at that as something special for him," Joe Pionke said. "That was truly a wonderful day."

No funeral or wake is planned, but another concert is planned at FitzGerald's on June 23.

Bowers recalled a brief conversation he had one night with a friend about Mr. Pionke and some of the crew at The Earl.

"He said, 'You know when the night crew (at The Earl) leaves, that family … when they pass that will be the end of an era,' " Bowers said.

The slab of concrete sits at the end of miles of otherwise well-kept parks along the North Shore Channel. Untouched for at least a decade, the empty parking lot is filled with graffiti and broken glass and has become a magnet for crime. Long-patient West Rogers Park residents hope that may...

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